Information for Law School Adjunct Faculty

On behalf of the
Law School community we welcome you to the
University of Wisconsin Law School. Thank you for agreeing to contribute your
time, talents, and energy to help educate the next generation of UW Law School
students. This web page has been
designed to help you become familiar with the administrative rules and
processes relevant to teaching. We hope
that the information we have compiled will help make your experience with us
productive and enjoyable. Any questions,
concerns, or exigencies not covered in the information below should be
addressed to Associate Dean Kevin Kelly in Room 5105 (phone: 262-4041; email: kevinkelly@wisc.edu).

Examinations (information on: Exam Form and Content; Scheduling and Exam
Length; Exam Accommodations for Students with Disabilities; Penalty for Failure to Complete Course;
Rescheduling Examinations; Rules for Conducting Examinations; Examinations to
be Kept on File).

1. Administrative
Matters

Appointment
Letter. Your official Appointment Letter from the Dean's
Office will be mailed to you before the semester begins. If
you are a new adjunct or it has been several years since you last taught at the Law
School, you may be required to fill out certain forms for payroll
or other administrative purposes (an I-9, W-4 and direct deposit forms). If you will be co-teaching a course or
seminar and dividing the honorarium, both instructors must fill out the
relevant forms.
Please
be prompt in completing any requested paperwork, and return it to Josh Cutler, Financial Specialist, whose office is in Room 5109 of the Law School (262-3138; cutler@wisc.edu).

Honorarium
Information. Your appointment letter will describe your honorarium. Please note: If your
honorarium is to be paid directly to your firm/employer, please notify Jane Heymann, Curricular Coordinator, of that fact as soon as possible. You can contact Jane at 608-262-6413 or jheymann@wisc.edu; her office is in Room 5103.

University I.D. Card (Wiscard). Once your adjunct appointment has been entered into the UW system, you may receive a University I.D. card, which carries with it certain University library, athletic facilities, and other
privileges. ID cards are available at the Wiscard office in Union South, Room 149, 1308 W. Dayton Street. Please call the Wiscard Office at 262-3258 prior to heading to the office to ensure your information appears in the system. If your card is more than five years old, it will have to be replaced, which will require a visit to the Union South. Here's a link that explains the process: http://www.wiscard.wisc.edu/get-your-wiscard.html

Biography.The
Law
School is proud of its adjunct faculty and wishes to post a
biography of all adjuncts on its website. If you have not recently submitted a biography (and, if possible, a
digital photo) please do so. Please
email your biography and photo to Jane Heymann at jheymann@wisc.edu. Adjunct biographies are posted at the
following web-page: http://law.wisc.edu/faculty/directory.php?iListing=Adjunct&iType=group.

Parking. Soon after the end of each semester, the
Law
School reimburses each adjunct, upon request, a small
sum generally sufficient to defray the costs of parking for the entire
semester. The sum will be enough to cover the costs for parking at a
public-accessible lot on the days that you teach at the
Law
School. Because the sum will be paid at the pre-set rate of five dollars per class session, there is no need for you to
save any parking receipts. (Please
note that the
Law
School is able to provide parking reimbursement to adjuncts who are also entitled to receive honoraria, but is not able
to do so for lecturers who are employees of the University.) Adjuncts will be contacted by email at the end of each semester with respect to the reimbursement.

The most convenient lots with public parking nearest the Law School are:

Lake Street/Frances Street Ramp (City of Madison) The city sometimes calls this the "State Street Campus
Ramp;" entrances to this ramp are on both Lake Street and Frances Street,
north of University Avenue). Parking attendant at booth: hundreds of spots
available.

Fluno Center (University Lot 83) (located on the south side of University Avenue at Frances Street; enter
from Frances Street) Parking attendant at booth: 188 visitor spots available

Southeast Campus Ramp (University Lot 46) (located just south of the Fluno Center on the
north side of Johnson Street between Lake and Frances Streets; numerous
entrances). Long-term meter parking: 184
ten-hour metered spots available.

Grainger Hall (University Lot 7) (located at University Avenue &
Brooks Street; enter from Brooks Street.) NOTE: New Information: For visitors, the new parking system will be
'pay on exit' -- similar to City of Madison parking structures,
airports, and most modern parking ramps and garages. Visitors will
pull a ticket on entry and then pay by credit card at one of the pay
stations located in or near elevator lobbies. Visitors may also pay
by credit card in the exit lane.

Mailboxes. All lecturers are
assigned the use of a mailbox outside the Main Office on the fifth floor of the
faculty tower. Please note that because
mailboxes are scarce, lecturers are typically required to share with other
lecturers. You should therefore make
sure to check the mailbox carefully to find all mail addressed to you. We ask that you make a point of checking your mailbox at least once per week.

Faculty Lounge. The faculty lounge (the “Lubar Commons”) is
located on the 7th floor, in Room 7200; there is a complimentary coffee machine for your enjoyment
and convenience in Room 7113, just around the corner from Lubar Commons.

Student Mailboxes. All UW Law students
have a hanging mail file assigned to them. Those files are located on the second floor of the
Law
School building, down the hall from the lockers. If you have hard-copy materials to
be delivered to your class outside of normal class meeting times, you may leave
them at the Main Office, with Debi Hegerfeld (Room 5110). Debi
will arrange for the materials to be delivered to the student mailboxes.

Posting Initial Assignments. If you are
interested in having your initial course assignments posted on the Law School's website, please email them to Jane Heymann at jheymann@wisc.edu. Assignments may also be faxed
(262-5485) to the Main Office, to Jane Heymann's attention, for posting on the website.

Course
Descriptions.To
enable us to advise students effectively about your course, an up-to-date description
should be submitted to Jane Heymann (262-6413; Room 5103; email jheymann@wisc.edu). Course descriptions should be no more than
one page in length, and can be as short as one or two paragraphs.

Course Syllabi. A syllabus for the
course should be made available to students on the first day of class. It should contain a list of the readings assigned
for the course, attendance requirements, a list of assignments, the method of
evaluation (i.e. final exam or paper), and the grading system that will be used
(i.e. letter grades; Mandatory Pass-Fail grades; Optional Pass-Fail grades).

Student Course Evaluations.Toward the end of
the semester, students will receive an email advising them that they may go online to provide comments with respect to their courses. (This replaces the former system wherein instructors passed out course evaluations for students to fill out.) Once you have submitted your
final grades, the completed evaluation forms will be mailed to you for your
consideration.

Rescheduling and
Cancelling Classes. If
it becomes necessary to cancel and/or reschedule a class, please
contact the Main Office (262-2240), Jane Ford Bennett (262-8564), or Jane Heymann (262-6413). We will help arrange for a classroom for a rescheduled class and/or
post a notice on the classroom door informing students that class has been
cancelled.

Textbooks &
Related Materials. The Law School's Bookmart has been closed permanently as of the end of May 2013. As soon as you have decided which books and related materials your students need to purchase for your course, please send that information to Jane Heymann, jheymann@wisc.edu. She will post the information so that students, and the University Bookstore, will know what materials you are requiring and/or recommending, so that required texts and
materials arrive in time for the start of the term. Legal
publishing houses will often provide instructors, on a complimentary basis, a
copy of the available text for the subject you teach. If you wish to review available texts, please
contact Kevin Kelly (kevinkelly@wisc.edu;
262-4041) for further information. Also, if you teach a subject that is also taught by some of the
Law
School’s regular faculty, please feel free to
contact them to get their ideas on the relative merits of various texts.

Questions sometime arise regarding copyright issues and materials you may want to reproduce for your course. The UW-Madison Administrative Legal Services website has informative presentations ("Copyright on Campus" & "The Virtual Classroom" [Copyright on Campus 2]) at the following web-page:
http://legal.wisc.edu/training-and-outreach-opportunities.htm (click on the Existing Presentations tab).

Duplicated
Materials. If
you will be using duplicated materials, those materials should be taken to the
Law
School
Copy Shop as soon as possible,
and well before the start of the semester. Linda Taylor manages the Copy Shop and can be reached at 262-0668 or at copyshop@law.wisc.edu.

2. Instructional Technology

PLEASE FULLY REVIEW THIS
SECTION PRIOR TO THE START OF CLASSES. Some services should be set up or
activated by you as far in advance of the first day of classes as possible. The following information (and much, much more)
is also available at tech services (help@law.wisc.edu)

Network User Names - are generally no longer needed. The AV computers can optionally log into a personalized account that includes file storage. Network IDs will be generated upon request to help@law.wisc.edu.

Your NetID: Free Email Account and
Access to Web Portal

If you
have an appointment with the
Law
School, you are eligible for a
"NetID." Your NetID
gets you a free "@wisc.edu" email account and access to the My UW-Madison web portal, where you can view your
current course information and other campus resources in a personalized web
environment. It also gives you access to the Law School's Intranet Grading Website (http://law.wisc.edu/grades/). Please be sure to forward the information about your NetID to Jane Ford-Bennett (jmford@wisc.edu) once you obtain it, so that she can ensure that you have access to enter your grades at the end of the semester.

To activate your NetID, go to https://www.mynetid.wisc.edu/activate and enter your 11-digit photo ID number and your birthdate. If you have not already obtained a University I.D. Card (Wiscard), please contact Jane Heymann to ensure that you have a valid, active appointment, and to obtain your ten-digit Campus ID number, which you will need in order to activate your NetID. Jane may be reached at
262-6413 or at jheymann@wisc.edu. All technical questions related to your NetID, your
@wisc.edu email account and the web portal should be
directed to the DoIT Help Desk at 264-HELP.

Your @wisc.edu email may be forwarded to a personal account, if desired. If you wish to use your @wisc.edu
account for Law
School
email instead of the address we currently have on file for you, please notify Jane Heymann.

A/V and computer equipment for your class. All classrooms except 3226 are wired with built-in computers/projectors. To request any other audio-visual equipment or service, email help@law.wisc.edu, and include badger in the subject line. You
may request equipment and services for individual classes
or for the entire semester.

Course Materials
Copied or Posted on the Web. This has been simplified from previous years.

The Bookmart no longer exists, and the Copy Shop has assumed responsibility for the printing of "course packs." To give students the greatest flexibility, the Copy Shop will upload all course packs received to a class Moodle (they'll create it if it doesn't already exist), which will make the electronic version freely available to students enrolled in your class. If a student wants a hard copy, the Copy Shop is happy to print it for him or her, and the student can simply stop by the Copy Shop to purchase the paper copy.

** NOTICE ** ALL duplicated and/or distributed course materials must abide by
copyright law. Anything submitted for duplication or posting on reserve MUST be
in the public domain or be covered by Fair Use guidelines, or you must obtain
permission from the copyright holder to duplicate and distribute the material.
There are no exceptions. The Copy Shop staff will submit
materials they feel violate copyright law to the Ad Hoc Copyright Compliance
Committee for review. Materials may be returned to you so that you may obtain
the necessary permissions. See http://law.wisc.edu/copyshop/copyright.htm for details.

"Online Course” Options. If desired, you
have four different ways to set up an online course:

A Moodle course page. An easy-to-use,
course management system; you can quickly craft a website to serve as a
virtual classroom for your students. There are great resources online for do-it-yourselfers; see https://courses.moodle.wisc.edu/ for more details. Best of all, the Law School IT staff and the Law Library Circulation
Librarians are your in-house Moodle experts, offering training,
trouble-shooting and on-site assistance as you develop your course page. To get started simply contact the Law help desk at help@law.wisc.edu or check out the easy course creator at https://courses.moodle.wisc.edu/

LexisNexis. You can host one or more threaded discussion groups
with your students, post your syllabus and class materials, and include links
to the LexisNexis research system. Contact the
Law
School's Lexis Representative,
Liz Zona, at liz.zona@lexisnexis.com, for more information and assistance.

Westlaw's TWEN. http://lawschool.westlaw.com/twen/ The West Education Network (TWEN) is an electronic extension of the classroom,
integrating academic tools, Westlaw research, and other resources in an online
environment. Contact the
Law
School's Westlaw Representative, Dennis Elverman, dennis.elverman@thomsonreuters.com, for more information and assistance.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison also has Learn@UW, which is a Blackboard-based course system. Campus has great support; full details are available at https://learnuw.wisc.edu/ NOTE: Learn@UW contains a grading module (E-Grade) that is not compatible with the Law School grading system and should not be used.

As a member of the campus library system, Law Library users may also draw
upon the over six million resources of the UW-Madison campus libraries.To search the library catalog, go to http://search.library.wisc.edu/.

Circulation Privileges. During teaching semesters, adjuncts
may have law faculty/staff check‑out privileges. To obtain a Law Library Card
contact Circulation Staff at 265-6649. This card is kept on file at the Circulation
Desk and may only be used at the Law Library. Your campus ID must be presented
at other campus libraries or to request materials through the UW Madison library
catalog.

Proxy Privileges. An assistant who is an enrolled student
or current employee of the UW-Madison can be authorized to check out campus items
for you; however, you will be responsible for any overdue fees or replacement
costs. To find out more contact Circulation Staff at 265-6649.

Copy Privileges. A copy card for course‑related copying
will be issued upon request to adjuncts during the semester in which they are
teaching. The copy card can be kept at the Circulation Desk or retained by the
adjunct. An assistant may be authorized to use your card. Contact Circulation
Staff at 265-6649 to request a copy card and to set up authorizations.

Course Reserves. The Course Reserve collection is located
at the Circulation Desk. Required readings and audio-visual materials can be
placed on Course Reserve each semester. Adjuncts may supply the item to place
on reserve or ask that the library provide it, if possible. Personal copies
submitted by adjuncts will be barcoded, fitted with a security device, and
labeled to indicate the course and instructor. Please note that overdue fines
are charged on Course Reserve titles to ensure equitable student access. To
place materials on Course Reserve, simply stop at the Circulation Desk or
contact Circulation Staff at 265-9546.

Electronic Course Reserves.To
provide convenient, 24/7 access to course materials, consider using Electronic
Reserves. Adjuncts may supply the item to place on reserve or ask that the
library provide it, if possible. Electronic reserve items are only available to
the students enrolled in your course and copyright guidelines are followed. If you would like any assistance in setting up
electronic reserves for your class, please contact Mary Jo Koranda, at 262-2213
or mkoranda@wisc.edu.

LexisNexis / Westlaw/ Bloomberg Law.
Access to LexisNexis, Westlaw and Bloomberg Law is available for adjunct
faculty of the UW Law School engaged in teaching courses, giving lectures, or
conducting seminars for law students. These IDs are provided at the discretion
of each vendor and must be used for educational purposes only. Access may be
granted up to four weeks before the beginning of the semester in which an
individual will teach and ceases upon the close of the semester. To obtain
passwords for both LexisNexis and Westlaw, contact Kris Turner, Reference &
Technology Services Librarian at 262-7238 or kturner3@wisc.edu.To request a Bloomberg Law ID, please visit
their website: http://about.bloomberglaw.com/

Research
and Instructional Support.The Law Library offers a full range of services to support faculty and
student research.Reference librarians
are available in person, or by phone, email or online chat to provide guidance
on resources best suited to your research needs.For more information, see http://library.law.wisc.edu/help/research.html.

Librarians also offer instruction on the use of many
legal databases and applications.If you
would like to meet with a librarian or schedule an instructional session for
your class, please contact Jenny Zook, Reference & Instructional Services Librarian, at
262-7761 or zook@wisc.edu.

In addition, the reference staff has compiled
Research Guides on a variety of legal topics which might be included on your
course syllabus: http://law.wisc.libguides.com/browse.php
We will be glad to tailor a Research Guide
for your class.For more information
contact Cheryl O’Connor, Head of Reference, at 262-3386 or caoconno@wisc.edu

4. Academic
Matters

First Day of Class. We recommend that
you collect students’ school addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses the
first day of class. Generally, email is
the most expeditious way to communicate with students throughout the
semester. See the section above on Instructional Technology regarding accessing an email class list.

Grading System. We
advise that you settle all student questions with respect to grading
(including the existence of the Pass-Fail option) very early in the
semester. The Law School has discontinued using the
65-95 grading scale. Grading is now done on a 4.3-scale
letter-grading system unique to the Law School. The letter grades
are as follows: A+, A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, D+, D, D-,
F. Chapter 2 of the Law School Rules governs the grading system. This chapter is found online at: http://law.wisc.edu/current/rules/chap2.htm .

Instructors in upper-level
courses may have the discretion to determine
whether to grade courses and seminars on a
Pass-Fail basis. (Pass-Fail can sometimes be “mandatory” -- that is, each member of the class will receive either a Pass
or Fail -– more commonly, you can allow your students an individual option to elect to take
the course on a Pass-Fail basis or receive a letter grade.) Pass-Fail grading is explained in Law School Rule 2.01 (3)-(4) and Rule 2.03. (Note:
Trial Advocacy courses are exclusively graded by Pass-Fail; thus, Trial Advocacy is a “mandatory” Pass/Fail course.) If you need advice
regarding the selection of a grading system, you may contact Associate Dean
Kevin Kelly at 262-4041.

Attendance Excerpts from the relevant Law School Rules:

5.01 General
Requirement. All students must attend classes regularly to
the satisfaction of the instructor.

5.02 Penalty. If a student fails to comply with the foregoing provision, his or her
final grade in the course may be lowered at the discretion of the instructor,
or if attendance at a seminar for which no grade is given is unsatisfactory, the student may be denied credit.

5.03 Seating
Assignments. Students must take the seats assigned to
them. An instructor is entitled to
consider a student absent if the student does not occupy the seat assigned to
him or her.

Students with Disabilities

Because of blind grading and the need to protect the
confidentiality of students with disabilities, instructors have almost no role
in providing accommodations for students with disabilities at this law school.
Below is an explanation of how our system works. Basically, instructors should
send students seeking any accommodations to Director of Student Life Mike Hall. In
very rare situations, such as a student with severe hearing or visual
disabilities, Mike Hall will come to professors for help in accommodating a
student in the classroom. Please contact Mike Hall any time that you have
questions about students with disabilities. Mike Hall contact
information: mahall2@wisc.edu or 890-0115.

Identifying Students with Qualifying Disabilities

The McBurney Center for Disabilities handles assessments of students
with disabilities for all departments on campus. The McBurney
Center issues a set of
accommodations for those students that it determines qualify for
accommodations. Accommodations may include extended time for exams, note-taking
services, or use of adaptive technology, among other things.

Implementing Accommodations Director of Student Life Mike Hall is responsible for implementing accommodations. Students
who ask instructors for accommodations should be referred to Mike Hall.
Because of blind-grading practices at the Law
School and the need to protect
confidentiality for the students, instructors usually have no role in
implementing accommodations.

Exam Accommodations Exam
accommodations may include a longer time for the exam, use of voice-activated software,
or a private room. Instructors will not get notice regarding students who
take an exam at a different time or with an accommodation, in order to protect
blind-grading. (The same is true for students without disabilities who have
exams rescheduled due to having two exams on the same day, medical emergencies
or the like.)

Note-taking services Director of Student Life Mike Hall is responsible for finding students to serve as note-takers. The McBurney
Center pays students $35 per credit
for note-taking.

Case Managers
The McBurney Center
provides case managers for students with disabilities. Case managers have
expertise related to the disability and can counsel the student about a variety
of instructional and non-instructional issues. Case managers also help determine when a student has asked for accommodations that go beyond what his or her
disability requires.

Policy Issues Our
Student-Faculty Committee on Disabilities handles policy issues related to the
provision of appropriate accommodations. The current chair of the committee
is Professor Michele LaVigne. Two students serve on the committee.

Upper-Level Writing Requirement. Should your course involve a significant amount of writing, students may ask if they may meet the Upper-Level Writing Requirement in your course. This is what is entailed:

To meet the Upper-Level Writing
Requirement in your or any other course, a student needs to submit draft written work
to the instructor that is cumulatively at least 15 pages in length (can be one
paper or several papers). The instructor then gives feedback to the
student on the legal writing aspect (as opposed to substantive law content) of
the draft and returns the draft, with comments/feedback to the student in time
for the student to incorporate the instructor's legal writing suggestions/guidance
via a re-write before submitting the final paper.

You do not need to follow the draft submission process for all students writing
papers for your course--only those who may still need to meet the
Upper-Level Writing Requirement (some will have already done so in another
course) and wish to do so in your course. For students not wishing to
meet the Upper-Level Writing Requirement in your course, they can simply submit
final papers as usual, as opposed to also submitting a preliminary draft.

One IMPORTANT note: students attempting to meet the Upper-Level Writing
Requirement in your course should not have their final grade in the course
enhanced or lessened by the draft-submission/writing feedback process.
The Upper-Level Writing Requirement is meant to be a separate skills-building
exercise and students fulfilling it in one course or another should not be
advantaged or disadvantaged, grade-wise, from other students in the course who
are not meeting the requirement in that same course.

As far as timing, the drafts just need to be submitted to you early enough in the semester to enable you to evaluate them and return them, with comments, in sufficient time so
that students can incorporate your suggestions in a rewrite for the final
paper. Precise deadlines with regard to draft submission and final
paper submission are up to the instructor, who will communicate same to the
students (hopefully early-on in the course).

As far as the legal writing guidance you give, we
allow all of our instructors (Faculty, Academic Staff, Adjuncts) to use their
own best judgment re what constitutes effective legal writing. This is
typically a subjective business, to be sure, but many of our adjunct faculty doubtless
have to write quite often (and also see examples of bad writing from other
attorneys)—so you will be in an excellent position to evaluate the students'
legal writing and offer suggestions for improvement when necessary.

5. Examinations

Exam Form and Content. While lecturers do their best to guard exam content, the reality is that
students can acquire copies of old exams -- especially because their
circulation is highly valued. For this
reason, no exam, whether on file in the library or not, should be
considered protected. Both lecturers and
regular faculty should compose new examinations each semester in the interest
of fairness and accuracy in evaluating a student’s mastery of the course
material.

Scheduling
and Exam Length. The schedule of
proctored final examinations to be given in the
Law
Building is set prior to the start of the
semester. The length of the final
examination usually coincides with the number of credits for the course (e.g.,
a two-credit course will generally conclude with a two-hour final exam,
three-credit courses will have three-hour exams, and so on). Proctors for exams will be arranged by Jane
Ford-Bennett (Room 5110A; 262-8564; jmford@wisc.edu), although you are certainly welcome
to proctor your own exam. Exams should
be prepared and ready for duplication four working days prior to the exam date. Finally, you have the option of having “Take-home”
examinations in lieu of a proctored exam. Take-home exams can generally be taken by students at a time of their
choosing at any point throughout the entire examination period. Administration of take-home exams is
typically handled by the
Law
School’s front office personnel. Take-home exams should be prepared and ready for duplication by the last day of classes of the semester.

Exam Accommodations for Students with Disabilities. Consistent with
Federal and State laws, the
Law
School provides academic and physical
accommodations to qualified students with disabilities. Students with disabilities who request
accommodations for examinations should be directed to Director of Student Life Mike Hall (Room 5101). Mr Hall will work with the
McBurney
Disability
Resources
Center to determine the proper accommodation
upon receiving documentation of the disability. If the accommodation involves extended time or physical changes in the
exam environment, Mr. Hall's office will
administer the examination. Mr. Hall's office will endeavor to protect the identity of
students receiving accommodations.

Penalty for Failure to Complete Course. In any cases where
withdrawal is not authorized under Law School Rule 6.01(1) or (2), the student
who fails to complete a course or to hand in an examination paper shall receive
a grade of F for such course.

Rescheduling Examinations. Pursuant to Law School Rule 6.03, the policy
of the
Law
School is that all students must take
examinations at the scheduled time unless there exist
extraordinary and compelling circumstances. The policy outlined below is designed to handle most typical
circumstances, and is usually administered by Director of Student Life Mike Hall. In the
interest of consistency and fair treatment, students who request to reschedule
an examination should be directed to Mr. Hall.

A student who is scheduled to take two
examinations on the same day may postpone the second examination to the first
day on which the student does not have a scheduled examination. A student who has four consecutive
examinations may postpone one of the exams for one week.

Except in extraordinary circumstances,
an examination will not be rescheduled later than the end of the examination
period in which the examination is scheduled.

An examination may be rescheduled
subject to approval of the Director of Student Life in the following
circumstances:

Where illness or pregnancy of the
student actually prevents the student from taking an exam, upon a physician’s
written certification to the Director of Student Life's office. A student who becomes ill during an
examination and is unable to complete it must take a new examination.

Where a member of a student’s family or
his or her “significant other” has died, and the student is attending the
funeral or grieving.

Where a Sabbath or other religious
observance precludes a student from taking an examination.

Where a student is attending the birth
of his/her child.

Other circumstances sufficiently
similar in gravity to those above that equity requires
comparable treatment.

The following are examples of
circumstances where examinations will not be rescheduled:

Where a student is taking a bar review
course in or within commuting distance of
Madison. (Bar Review courses outside of
Madison will be individually reviewed)

Where a student has a professional
opportunity that conflicts with a scheduled examination.

Where a student is late, oversleeps, is
caught in traffic, etc.

Where a student wishes to leave early
for the winter or summer break.

Where a student has exams on 3
consecutive days.

If a student takes a rescheduled
examination, the instructor, with the advice of the Director of Student Life, has discretion to give the student a letter grade, or to grade the student on a satisfactory-unsatisfactory
basis.

Whenever possible, requests for
postponements should be made to the office of the Director of Student Life no later than four weeks before examinations begin. Students should not request special
arrangements for examinations from the instructor in a course. Questions about the meaning or application of
these rules should be addressed to the Director of Student Life.

Rules for Conducting Examinations.
Law
School Rule 6.06 gives
the following guidance regarding the administration of final exams:

No books, paper, outlines or bluebooks
shall be brought into the examination room except as authorized in advance by
the individual instructor.

Students will be permitted to sign out
and leave the room for necessary purposes, and should return promptly.

Space for outlining or the making of
notes may be provided on the examination paper itself. Separate scratch paper will be furnished.

Examinations to be Kept on File. Pursuant
to Law School Rule 6.08, all examination bluebooks, final papers,
etc., must be retained on file for one year.

6. Grades &
Grading Procedures

Grading. The overriding concern of the
Law
School regarding grading is that students be
treated fairly and consistently, particularly with respect to students in other
sections of the same course. For that
reason, the
Law
School has adopted the grading rules and
guidelines that are outlined below. When assigning grades to your students, you
should follow the stated guidelines.

Grading System. We
advise that you settle all student questions with respect to grading
(including the existence of the Pass-Fail option) very early in the
semester. The Law School discontinued using the
65-95 grading scale. All grading is now done on a 4.3-scale
letter-grading system unique to the Law School. The letter grades are
as follows: A+, A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, D+, D, D-, F. The GPA equivalents of those grades are: A+ = 4.3; A = 4.0; A minus = 3.7; B+ = 3.3; B = 3.0; B minus = 2.7; C+ = 2.3; C = 2.0; C minus = 1.7; D = 1.0; D minus = 0.7. Chapter 2
of the Law School Rules governs the new grading system. This chapter
is found online at: http://law.wisc.edu/current/rules/chap2.htm

Instructors in upper-level
courses may have the discretion to determine
whether to grade courses and seminars on a
Pass-Fail basis. (Pass-Fail
can sometimes be “mandatory” --that is, each member of the class will
receive either a Pass
or Fail –- or, more commonly, you can allow your students an individual
option to elect to take
the course on a Pass-Fail basis or receive a letter grade.) Pass-Fail
grading is explained in Law School Rule 2.01 (3)-(4) and Rule 2.03. (Note:
Trial Advocacy courses are exclusively graded by Pass-Fail; thus, Trial Advocacy is a “mandatory” Pass/Fail course.) If you need advice
regarding the selection of a grading system, you may contact Associate Dean
Kevin Kelly at 262-4041.

Excerpts From The Law School Grading Rules

2.06 Grading Consistency in Multi-Sectioned
Courses

Faculty teaching courses for which several sections are offered in the same
semester are expected to consult in order to maintain a consistency in the
grading patterns of the sections. Consistency can be maintained by agreement in
advance to an approximate grading pattern, agreement to follow a pattern set by
the first instructor to finish grading, or submission of all grades after all
grading has been completed and post-grading consultation has occurred.

Consistency does not require that there be no differences in the grading curves
between sections. However, faculty should be convinced that any differences
between sections reflect differences in student performance and not just
differences in faculty grading patterns.

2.07 Average
Grades

For all first year courses, and for advanced classes with an enrollment
exceeding 30, the mean grade shall normally fall between 2.85 and 3.1 on the 4.3 (A+ to F) scale. For
advanced classes with an enrollment of 30 or less, the mean grade shall
normally fall between 2.7 and 3.3 on the 4.3 (A+ to F)
scale.

An instructor submitting grades with a mean falling outside the limits prescribed
in the preceding section shall provide the Associate Dean with a brief written
explanation for the deviation from the prescribed means. The Associate Dean may
prescribe a form for the submission of such explanations.

Anonymous Grading System. Pursuant to Law School Rule 6.10, all
students taking examinations are identified by an anonymous exam number rather
than by name. Prior to the end of the
semester, all instructors are given specially prepared grading sheets
identifying students by their anonymous exam numbers. Besides the anonymous exam numbers, grading
sheets contain the overall grade point average for the class. This number can be used as a reference in the
grading process.

Decoding Exam Numbers-Extra Credit. Once grades are
turned in, instructors may award extra credit for class participation or other
assignments by providing a list of the students who are to receive the credit
to Jane Ford-Bennett (262-8564/Rm5106), or by asking her to decode the numbers
and scores of particular students.

Excerpts From The Law School Grading Rules

2.08 Grade
Distributions

1. The following table establishes target ranges for the distribution of grades in
large and small sections. Large sections are courses or sections with an
enrollment exceeding 30. Instructors should endeavor to fit within these ranges
in assigning grades, unless circumstances peculiar to that course or the
students enrolled in it justify a different pattern.

Grade
Range

Large
Section

Small Section

F to
C-

0-13%

0-15%

C & C+

7-17%

5-20%

B- & B

35-45%

30-50%

B+ & A-

28-38%

25-40%

A & A+

5-15%

0-20

2. The Associate Dean shall study the grading patterns of all instructors. If they
deviate significantly from these ranges over several courses, the Associate
Dean shall consult with the instructor in an effort to come to some agreement
whether the deviations are appropriate, given the subject matter of the course
and the type of students enrolled.

2.09 Reporting of Grades

Instructors are responsible for reporting their grades in conformity with the
deadline policies adopted by the faculty.

Grade entry is accomplished by utilizing the Law
School's
online grade reporting system. The online grade reporting system may be
modified from time to time, but should contain:

(a)
a method for calculating the average and median grades for the course;
(b)
a method for calculating the current combined cumulative average for all the
students included on the grade sheet, to the extent that it is available;
(c)
a method for generating a table depicting the number of times each individual
grade was given; and
(d)
a method for permitting instructors to include, along with their individual
grades, a brief description of the method of testing or other basis for grades
and any explanation desired by the instructor concerning special or unusual
circumstances pertaining to the course.

Finality of Grades - Appeals

2.11 Grading Grievances

There shall be no appeal from a grade on the allegation either that the grader
misapplied the criteria for grading the exam, or that the criteria were
themselves ill-chosen; faculty members should be scrupulously careful in constructing
the exam, choosing grading criteria and applying those criteria. Once a grade
has been turned in, that grade may be changed only if it is the result of an
error in computation, or an error in transcription.

Students who believe they have been the victim of discrimination based on race,
sex, religion, national origin, or other similarly arbitrary grounds, may seek
redress from the office of the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, with a
right of appeal to the Petitions Committee. Disputes concerning the right to,
or extent of, any disability-related accommodations shall be resolved using the
appeal process set forth as part of the ADA Campus Policies, and shall not be
regarded as grading grievances under this section.

A student who wishes to challenge the nature, quality, or fairness of an
examination or other graded exercise for a particular course, rather than his
or her particular grade on that examination or exercise, may bring a grievance
to the attention of the office of the Associate Dean.

Temporary Grades for Graduating Students. Instructors
teaching upper-level courses will often have students who will be graduating at
the conclusion of the semester. Such
students are instructed to notify their instructors on their exams or final
papers that they expect to graduate that semester. To enable the
Law
School to ensure it only certifies degree-eligible students for bar admission,
you are asked to inform the Law School of any graduating student
in your course whom you feel either likely failed the course or has otherwise not completed the coursework requirements in full.

Final Grade Deadline.The deadline for turning in final grades is
four weeks from the last day of the examination period. If you will need an extension to finish
grading exams, you may contact Associate Dean Kevin Kelly (262-4041).

7. Student
Affairs

Nonacademic Misconduct. University rules prohibit conduct in the
classroom that severely affects the physical and learning environment of
students. Any such conduct should be
reported to Director of Student Life Mike Hall, Room 5101,
at 890-0115 or mahall2@wisc.edu.

Illness During the Semester. Students whose
illnesses render them incapable of performing should be encouraged to report
their condition to Director of Student Life Mike Hall. The University is well prepared to offer a
full range of treatment and counseling options, and its policies are designed
to accommodate the needs of students who cannot perform their academic work
because of illness.

Read This First! Student
Handbook. A complete version of the Law School’s student
manual, parts of which you may find enlightening, is located at: http://law.wisc.edu/current/rtf.

Conclusion

Again, we hope
your experience teaching at the
Law
School is both enjoyable and rewarding. If there are any problems or concerns,
please contact Associate Dean Kevin Kelly at 262-4041 or kevinkelly@wisc.edu. Thank you, again, for your invaluable
contribution to our
Law
School community!